Don't believe in fairy tales
by ohlalarisse
Summary: AU; In which April is a fair innocent intern in distress and Jackson her knight in shining blue scrubs.
1. Damsel in distress

**Damsel in distress**

_They say that when you're about to die your whole life flashes before your eyes, she really hopes they're right because she saw nothing, not even the pickup truck that crashed into her car. Otherwise, she might be screwed._

* * *

One moment she is driving home from the grocery store singing along with the silly songs on the radio and the next she feels an impact on the passenger side, there's no slow motion; everything happens so fast that before she realizes she's on the other side of the street, her car pressed up against a lamp post.

She blinks repeatedly staring absently at the lamp post in front of her wondering what happened, her thoughts are kind of scrambled but some part of her knows she's probably in shock.

"Hey!"

She can hear people screaming, so at least her hearing is intact. Her eyes move inside her vehicle, some of the oranges she bought are on the front sit, she wanted tangerines anyway. There's a lot of broken glass too, the radio isn't working anymore.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

Her eyes turn towards the voice and meet a pair of pretty green-blue ones. Wow! The pretty eyes belong to an even prettier man, are men even supposed to be pretty?

He's a very concerned man from the looks of it. "Are you okay? He repeats when she doesn't respond.

Right, he wants an answer. "Yeah," she manages to say.

"Do you have any trouble breathing?" he asks as his hands check her pulse through the driver's window.

_I guess that's where the glass comes from_, she muses.

"No."

"Don't move your head," he warns her, "you know what happened?"

Her mind recalls a deafening noise, losing control of the car as she was quickly dragged along lanes, other cars missing her by inches.

"A car crash? I think I'm still alive," she answers, the pain she's starting to feel is a good proof of that.

"You are," he reassures her, "I'm a doctor, I'm gonna help you. Stay still, okay?"

"Okay."

She watches him struggle to open the car's door, but no matter how much strength he puts into it, the door doesn't budge. Her hand blindly pats around for the seatbelt buckle, after a few seconds she finds it and manages to unlock it.

"Don't move," he chides her lightly still fighting with the door, finally he gives up. "It's stuck, it's better if we wait for the paramedics anyway. What's your name?"

"April," she answers, her senses becoming more alert. On the downside the pain is beginning to worsen.

He smiles, leaning into the car through the broken window he helps her remove the belt, "okay April, I'm Jackson, does anything hurt?"

"My leg," she winces when she tries moving it to relieve some of the pressure, "I think it's trapped, it might be broken."

"No, stay still," he orders taking off his jacket and covering her with it, "okay, you moved your right hand earlier, can you move the other one? Carefully and don't move you neck."

She flexes her fingers and slightly raises both hands from her lap, "yeah, they're fine."

"What about your head? Any pain? Dizziness, blurry vision?" he asks checking her pupils, "do you think you passed out at any time?"

"No, I don't think so. It hurts, I might have hit it against the steering wheel, but my leg it's worse."

"How's your pain in a scale of one to ten?" he examines her forehead, where she's sure she must have a bump the size of a house, but at least she doesn't feel any blood on her face.

"Like, twenty," April says honestly, "you have any morphine on hand?"

He chuckles, "sorry, must have left it in my other jacket." It would have been too good to be truth anyway and illegal too.

"The other driver is okay?" she questions, suddenly realizing there are obviously more people involved.

"He's fine, don't worry about him, he walked out by himself," Jackson frowns.

"How bad does it look? I'm a doctor too, you don't have to sugarcoat it," she comments seeing his grim expression.

He smiles reassuringly at her,"everything is good, help will be arriving any moment now and we're getting you out of there."

"Sounds great." She knows he won't tell her even if things look really bad for her, he wants to keep her calm and still, but she might start to freak out not having all the facts, he doesn't know April Kepner, being a doctor and very aware of all the things that can go wrong really suck when you're the one stuck in the bad situation.

"You're a doctor too? What kind?" he asks.

"Just finished med school, I'm starting a surgical internship soon. I hope," April answers. _Please God, let me get past this and became a surgeon,_ she prays silently.

"You will," Jackson affirms, "I'm actually a surgeon myself."

"Yeah? I'm in luck then, what kind?" She wants to turn and look at him directly, but she knows best, even if she's pretty sure there's nothing wrong with her head or spine, she won't risk it and doctor gorgeous over there would probably be very pissed off with her.

"Plastics. Now, I know what you're thinking," he continues before she can interrupt him, not that she was planning to, "you're wishing I was a trauma surgeon, but don't worry, we have a lot of experience with trauma in Seattle Grace."

"Yeah? I..."

Before she can answer the paramedics arrive, and soon her blood pressure is being checked, Jackson manages to put a neck brace on her and she has an IV line taped to her arm.

"Hey, April, still feeling okay? Keep talking to me," Jackson says.

"You are worried about my head, you think I'm gonna pass out, but I don't think I will. No promises about puking though."

"Just hold on, the firefighters are taking you out of there. I'm gonna make room for them to work," he takes a step back.

Her heartbeat accelerates and she feels her stomach churning. "No, no. Please don't leave," April begs extending her hand towards him. He's been her lifeline, keeping her from panicking and she feels safer with him by her side. It's crazy to be so attached to him this quickly.

He grabs her hand and squeezes it reassuringly, "calm down, I'm staying with you. Deep breaths."

Jackson exchanges words with the firefighters that she doesn't care to listen to because she knows what's coming next when she sees them arranging their tools and whatnot to remove the door. Pain, lots and lots of pain.

"Hey, don't look at them, focus on me. You have a specialty picked out yet?" Jackson questions.

_As pretty as you are, I don't think I'll be able to ignore them_, she thinks but is still grateful for the distraction. "Neuro."

"Yeah, I can totally see it," he jokes, "going around bossing every..."

The metal crunches loudly when they remove the door and thankfully she doesn't feel a thing.

"April, I have to move back a little but I'm staying close, okay?" Jackson promises and moves out of the way to give the firefighters more room.

"Okay." Taking deep breaths she closes her eyes as the men work around her to free her leg.

His voice reaches her above the other noises, "maybe I can convince you to give plastics a chance."

She clenches her fists tightly, nails digging into her palms. "I don't think so."

"Hey there's more to it than..."

She doesn't hear the rest of his sentence as overwhelming pain irradiates from her leg, she clenches her teeth to keep herself from screaming but it's probably in vain.

"Jackson," she mumbles.

"Yeah?" he answers back.

"I think I'm gonna pass out now," she says as dark spots fill her vision.

"No, keep talking. Where are you doing your internship?"

"I'm..."

The last thing she hears before all goes black is his voice repeating her name.

* * *

**AN: This is a new story that I couldn't get out my head, I know I should be working on the others, sorry, but I get so depressed whenever I hear or read the word baby that I just can't right now. Don't even want to think about it or I'll start a major rant about unprofessional half assed three seconds diagnosis on five seconds ultrasounds. **

**Hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think... **


	2. Sleeping Beauty

**Sleeping beauty**

* * *

Without hesitating he hops into the back of the ambulance with her, even though her vitals are stable she remains unconscious, this worries him because of the trauma to the head, even if it seems to be minor, she could have a fracture or there could be internal bleeding. He really hopes that's not the case.

They ride to the hospital, sirens flashing and blaring to clear the way, he keeps a close eye on the redhead's condition, it remains the same but he can't shake the anxiety that took hold of him when she passed out. There could be something wrong with her, something he missed.

He feels emotionally involved, which isn't good. He cares about all his patients' well being, but normally he can keep a clear head and not let the situation get to him, things happen and he couldn't do his job properly if he didn't maintain a professional distance. Why can't he seem to do it this time?

Maybe it's because he was there from the start, seeing the accident, making sure she was okay, keeping her calmed through all of it.

Or maybe it's because of her, she wants to be a surgeon too, she's young and beautiful and she has her whole life ahead of her.

Maybe it's the way she asked him not to leave her alone.

"The other driver, how is he?" he asks the paramedic.

"Minor scratches, the other ambulance is taking him to the hospital nonetheless, the police is escorting them, it seems he was drunk," the other man comments in a disapproving tone.

"Son of bitch," Jackson mutters. Why can't people get into their minds that's a bad idea to drink and drive? The worst part is that they don't only risk their own lives, they risk everyone else's too.

"Yeah," the paramedic says in agreement hearing him despite his low tone.

Jackson jumps out of the vehicle when they arrive at the ambulance bay of Seattle Grace, he's glad to see Hunt waiting for them, relieved that April will be in good hands.

"Avery?" The trauma surgeon eyes him confused.

"I was at the scene," Jackson explains hastily.

Hunt nods, "okay, what do we've got?"

They quickly give him all the details as they take April into a trauma room.

"Page Ortho and Neuro. Okay one, two, three," the chief orders a blond nurse as they transfer April from the gurney.

"Don't page Neuro, page Shepherd," Jackson says to the woman holding the phone.

Hunt glares at him, "Avery."

He ignores him, "page Shepherd!"

"He's not here," the other surgeon explains as he expertly continues his examination.

"Damn it," Jackson curses in low voice as Torres walks into the room.

Seeing him there she raises an eyebrow in question, "Avery, shouldn't you be on the residents' dinner?"

"I was on my way when I saw the accident, this fucking idiot run past a red light straight into her car," he says.

"Right," the brunette answers as she examines April's leg, "well, we're gonna need some scans to know for sure if this leg is broken. There's swelling, but apparently the bone is still in place."

"We need to take her to radiology to see what else might be happening. Where is my Neuro consult?" Hunt barks at the nurse.

"Dr. Nelson said he was coming ASAP," the blond woman answers promptly.

Jackson huffs, "great, shadow Shepherd sure takes his time."

Callie chuckles as she dexterously stabilizes April's leg.

"Avery go outside," Hunt orders clearly exasperated with the younger man.

Jackson feels reluctant to leave her, "I can help." She practically begged him to stay with her, it was in an entirely different situation, but he still feels kind of responsible for her.

"We don't need your help, go outside. The police will want a word you."

"But..." he tries to protest.

"Leave, now!"

"Damn it," he storms out of the room knowing it's futile to argue with Hunt.

Jackson remains nearby asking one of the nurses to page him if the police comes looking for him. He watches Nelson go into the room where April is being treated, a few minutes later they walk out pushing the gurney carrying a still unconscious redhead.

"We're taking her to radiology," Torres informs him before he can open his mouth.

He has the intention of following them whether they like it or not, but his pager goes off spoiling his plans. We'll it seems he has to talk to the police after all.

He's finishing his very short interview when Karev catches up to him.

"Dude! What the hell!? You all bailed on me, I was alone at dinner with Webber," the Ped's surgeon complains angrily once the officers leave. "You know how awkward that was?"

"I was on my way, but there was a car accident," he explains, he's not in the mood to deal with Karev's sour temper.

Alex's eyebrows raise in surprise, "you were in an accident?"

Jackson shakes his head in denial, "no, this girl car was hit by drunk driver, she was trapped inside, I stopped to help. What happened to Grey and Yang anyway?"

"Hell if I know," he shrugs, "how's the girl?"

"Hunt and Torres took her up to radiology. Damn! I have to go back for my car, I rode in the ambulance and left it behind," Jackson says rubbing his brow in frustration when he remembers his hastily parked vehicle. He probably has a ticket already, if the car it's still there all, it could have been towed for all he knows.

"Get one of the interns to do it," Karev suggests. Seeing his colleague altered state, he rolls his eyes and extends his hand, "give me your keys, I'll order one of the minions to get it for you."

Jackson searches his pocket for his keys and hands them over, "thanks."

"Don't mention it," Karev says walking away.

* * *

He's wandering around the hospital, by now he has run out of things to distract himself with. His car is back courtesy of a very terrified intern, he's not on call and nobody seems to need any help, not even for a couple of miserable stitches.

He's walking aimlessly down a corridor, when he sees Hunt leaving a room. "How is she?" he questions catching up to the older doctor.

"There are no sings of internal damage, the leg is fissured and Torres is fixing it as we speak, we'll know more once she wakes up, but apparently everything is fine, " Hunt informs him, despite his words he seems worried.

"That's good," Jackson sighs relieved.

Hunt nods, the frown not leaving his face, "you should go home."

"Yeah, in a while. Anything else happened?"

"I'm not sure," for a moment it seems like he wants to say something else, "excuse me, I have something to take care of." He walks away hurriedly.

Jackson decides to pester a nurse for the location of April's room, his target proves herself to be a worthy opponent but in the end can't resist the Avery charm. To be fair she's more busy than against giving him the info, but he still needs it, so no guilt on his end.

April is already in her room when he gets there, right leg set up in a cast and slightly raised. The nurse from the trauma room is with her checking the IV line and vitals, she glares disapprovingly at him when he takes her chart and scans through it.

"Has anyone contacted her family?" he asks as she's leaving.

"Yes, her parents are flying from Ohio."

"Okay, thanks."

Content that everything seems to be in order so far he puts down the chart and checks her vitals. Immense relief fills him knowing she's going to be fine, even if she hasn't woken up just yet.

The exhaustion of a long and difficult day is finally catching up to him, he sits in the chair by her bed intending to rest for a few minutes before crashing in an oncall room, there's no point in going home when he has to be back in a few hours anyway.

He looks at April absentmindedly, the redhead seems peaceful and she's beautiful, despite the large bruise on her forehead. It sounds stupid, considering she was on a car accident, but she was really lucky, she could have been really hurt or she could have died.

And the biggest irony is that the stupid asshole that caused the accident only has minor scratches, at least he'll have to face the consequences of his actions, he's lucky he didn't kill somebody.

A nurse comes to check on April at some point, but Jackson remains lost in thought. He rubs his eyes tiredly, he's reluctant to leave her, her family won't be here for a few hours and he doesn't want her to wake up alone. The panic in her voice when she asked him not to leave her is etched on his mind, she'd been very calmed and centered until that point, maybe his presence offered her some kind on solace.

Having lived through one life-threatening situation himself, he has a clear picture of how utterly terrifying it's to know your life could end in that precise moment.

April's eyes flutter as she begins waking up, he approaches her slowly and presses the button to call the nurse. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asks quietly.

"Hi," she manages to say, her voice hoarse, "I'm fine."

"That'll be the pain meds," he smiles at her, "remember me?"

She nods and offers a small smile in return, dimples appear in her cheeks, "I'm thirsty."

"I'll get you something," he promises her as the nurse enters the room, he turns to the woman "page Hunt and Torres."

"Dr. Hunt is unavailable," she informs him.

"Then page Torres and Nelson. And bring her some ice chips, please."

"Right away, doctor."

He turns back to April, "they'll be here soon to give you all the details. Your family is on their way."

She groans. Not the reaction he was expecting from her.

"What? Not too fond of family reunions," Jackson jokes.

"Not particularly, no," she says offering no other explanation, a grim expression on her face.

He decides that he better stays away from the topic, clearly there are some underlying issues she's not planning to share, not that he has any right to know in the first place.

"I passed out?" April raises her eyebrows.

"Yes, when they were getting you out, you gave me quite the scare for a second," he says in faux anger.

"Sorry," the cute dimples make an appearance one again.

"You don't have to be, feel any pain?"

She shakes her head. "Where am I?"

"Seattle Grace."

"You work here?"

"Yes, but not for long, I'm actually moving soon to work at Tulane," he tells her, not entirely sure why he decided to share that with her.

"Oh, that's good." For a second it seems as if her smile faltered when he told her he was leaving, but it's back so quickly that Jackson is certain he imagined it.

"Yeah."

There's an awkward pause from both sides, like they're not sure how to continue the conversation. Fortunately, Nelson enters the room followed closely by Callie, who gives Jackson an inquisitive look.

"I'll be outside," he says to April, purposely ignoring Torres stare.

He hovers nearby and distractedly checks his cell phone waiting for them to finish their consult, finding him outside April's room the nurse from earlier handles him a cup of ice-chips before rushing away.

Webber appears suddenly at his side. Great, he's probably the last person Jackson wants to see at the moment. He hasn't gotten over the horror of finding the general surgeon in his mother's hotel room the night before the boards quite yet.

"Is Torres in there?" Webber asks, a worried look on his face.

Jackson nods, "yes." He's about to ask if there's something wrong when the orthopaedic surgeon leaves the room and walks towards them.

"Your girlfriend is gonna be just fine, Avery," she announces teasingly.

He rolls his eyes ignoring her taunt.

Webber clears his throat, "Torres, Hunt needs to talk with you."

Seeing the older man grave expression she turns serious, "okay." They walk away quickly leaving a curious Jackson behind. He's beginning to think that something important is going on and no one seems interested in telling him what it is.

Once Nelson walks out of April's room Jackson goes inside again. He holds the cup up for her to see, "I come bearing gifts," he jokes. _Lame, really lame, Avery._

"Right now, that's the best gift you could have gotten me," she says from her slightly raised position on the bed. He hands her the cup and she wastes no time before putting some ice-chips in her mouth.

He puts his hands inside his pockets. "So what's the verdict?"

"Minor concussion and a fissured tibia, I can't believe I fainted from that, I'm such a wimp," she complains.

"Yeah, you totally are," he scoffs, "I'm sure that doesn't hurt at all."

"I know, right? I'm gonna be rocking this cast for a few weeks," she shrugs distractedly shaking the cup of ice-chips.

He grins. "It totally suits you."

"Jackson," she says suddenly in a serious voice, "thank you for everything you did for me."

"You don't need to thank me."

April shakes her head in disagreement. "No, I do, you didn't just help me when I was trapped inside the car, Dr. Torres told me you brought me in and you were here when I woke up, you didn't have to do any that, so thank you."

Sometimes people in this hospital have a really big mouth, Jackson thinks trying not to blush, he's not even sure why he feels kind of embarrassed.

"You're welcome, but really April..." his beeper goes off interrupting what he is about to say, "sorry, they're paging me. I have to go."

"Okay, see you," she offers him a dimpled smile that he finds to be really cute and he smiles back before rushing away, he reminds himself that is inappropriate of him to notice anything cute about April.

He walks to the closest nurses' station, "I was paged."

"You need to go to the residents' lounge," one of the nurses informs him giving no other kind of explanation.

Jackson hurries towards the lounge encountering a very sleepy and cranky Karev along the way, "you know what this is about?" he grunts.

"No idea," Jackson shrugs, "you didn't go home?"

"Nah, too tired. I crashed in an oncall room, until the damn pager woke me up."

Inside the lounge they find most of the fourth and fifth year residents, except for Grey and Yang, but nobody seems to have a clue about why they were summoned.

Webber and Bailey walk in, grave expressions on their faces.

"There's been an accident," Webber says not beating around the bush. "The plane with the surgical team that left to operate on the conjoined twins never reached Boise. They haven't find a crash site yet, we don't have any information about our colleagues, but we think you should know what's happening."

Voices raise inside the room, everyone trying to get answers no one seems to have.

* * *

Eventually, Jackson finds an empty on call room and unceremoniously throws himself on the bed letting the exhaustion he's been fighting win.

He walked past April's room before locking himself in here, he was inclined to check on her again, but he saw that, judging by the number of redheads surrounding her bed, April's family had finally arrived. He walked away discretely, not wanting to intrude in their private moment.

He presses his hand to his eyes, trying to shut down his brain. He doesn't want to ponder about the maybe and what ifs. His colleagues, friends, ex-girlfriend and his mentor could be dead and he doesn't want to think about it.

He falls asleep much later, his dreams revolving around dimples and red hair, the next morning he doesn't remember any of it.

* * *

**AN: As always, I hope you liked it. Remember, this is AU so some things are going to be very different (obviously), while others will remain the same and I'll will adapt a few other things to fit the story.**

**Thank you so much for reviewing, you're very kind and your words encourage me to keep writing this story, it's really nice to know someone out there is enjoying my fic, otherwise there'll be no point to this. **


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